X4: Vengeance
by NanaT17
Summary: Post X3 Magneto and his brotherhood put in motion the plans for a sinister plot on the other side Scorned Mystique begins her plans for a war between mutants. The X-Men must figure out these plans and stop them. Whilst the Phoenix slowly Rises again!
1. Chapter 1: Memories

_**Chapter 1: Memories**_

Ororo Munroe sat behind the desk in the professor's office although officially the office belonged to her she still thought of it as the professor's. Ororo yawned from tiredness she had been working hard the past month since the School got a lot of new students almost every day since the battle at Alcatraz. The congress had called a meeting and created the Mutant Response Division, the MRD. Dangerous mutants were being hunted down so groups like the brotherhood were in hiding biding their time until they were ready to strike.

Ororo allowed her mind to wander back to the past month since Alcatraz, a lot had happened, first Hank McCoy had resigned after the introduction of the MRD, then Kurt Wagner (Nightcrawler) had returned stating that the Mansion was the safest place for obvious mutants, such as him, to live.

A knock to the door interrupted her thoughts "Come in." she said. Hank walked in followed by Logan. "We have a visitor." He said.

"Who?" Ororo asked

"I think it's best you see for yourself."

Ororo stood up and followed Hank and Logan out the office door. She followed them into the lounge where a woman sat on the couch, when she saw them enter she stood up.

The woman had blond hair and blue eyes much like Ororo's own; she wore white, skinny jeans with a white tank top over it. "My name is Emma Frost and I presume you are the Headmistress, Ororo Munroe."

"I am."


	2. Chapter 2: Emma Frost

**_Chapter 2: Emma Frost_**

"You see I used to teach at my own school for mutants before it closed down, so I am qualified enough to school your students not only in harnessing their respective abilities but also in the education that non-mutant children are learning."

Ororo sighed, "Yes I'm certain that you are qualified but the simple problem is we aren't at this moment employing staff so…"

"I understand," Emma cut in, "I also have another talent that could be useful, I'm a telepath and, if I'm correct, then that means that I may be the only person able to use Cerebro." Her words brought a look of shock on Ororo and Hank's face and only a look of contempt on Logan's who was already storing her scent in his memory, something told him that he would be smelling it again sooner rather than never.

"How do you know about Cerebro?" Hank asked

"Let's just say that I did my research before coming here and…oh maybe you should really try to retrieve all your information from Stryker's files."

Ororo made a mental note to prepare a retrieval operation as quick as possible.

"Fine," Ororo said resigned, "Logan could you show her to a spare room, I gather you brought some luggage?" Ororo directed the last question to Emma.

"Yes." She said then three black suitcases appeared out of nowhere.

Even Logan was gob smacked, "I thought you said you were a telepath?" He said

"I am," Emma, replied, "I just shielded my suitcases from your mind's eye. If your mind couldn't register them then regardless if they were right in front of you to your mind they're not there.

* * *

><p>Logan led Emma up the stairs to her room as they passed a Kitty, Peter, Bobby and Rogue were walking past. Logan called to them, "Hey!" they turned around to face him.<p>

"What's up, Logan?" Kitty asked

"I'd like you to meet the newest teacher at Xavier's."

"It's nice to meet you." Kitty said, "my name's Kitty."

"It's nice to meet you Kitty, I'm Emma Frost." Emma turned to face Bobby, Rogue and Peter. "And the rest of you are…?"

"I'm Bobby." Emma shook his hand

"I'm Peter."

"Ah'm Rogue." She raised her gloved hand to Emma to shake.

"Rogue? That's a rather unusual name."

"Yeah, well ah'm rather unusual person." Rogue said turning away

"Isn't it a bit hot to be wearing gloves?" she called out.

"Mind your own business." Rogue replied coldly

"Uh…she's just a bit testy today." Bobby said before running after Rogue hastily followed by Peter and Kitty.

"Well that was a little odd." Emma said

"Rogue's got problems that she needs to sort out."

"What do you mean?"

"Ask her, it might help you to get to know the kids better. Anyway your room's across the hall there, now I don't wanna sound un-gentlemanly but, carry your own bags down there I've got things to do." Logan dropped her bags and started down the stairs.

* * *

><p>"I think her powers have come back." Logan stood in Ororo's Office telling her of his reservations.<p>

"It seems our suspicions have been confirmed," she said her head in her hands "and if Rogue has her powers back then…"

"Magneto has his too." Logan added.

Emma stood in her new room looking out the window when she got a call, "Hello?"

"I see you got in well done." A male voice said

"I surely hope you didn't underestimate my capabilities." She said

"Don't lose sight of what you have to do, get the X-Men to trust you enough to freely use the mutant tracking machine."

"Cerebro."

"Indeed, the best of luck." The dial tone sung a song in Emma's ear.

"Not even a goodbye," she muttered as she started to unpack.


	3. Chapter 3: Mystique

_**Chapter 3: Mystique**_

Raven Darkholme sat in a café silently stirring a cup of coffee. She was in her human form, as masquerading in her blue skin would have brought unwanted attention. Ever since the establishment of the MRD a mutant walking on the street was dangerous. It wasn't the MRD itself posing a threat but the humans forming little groups and 'policing' an area against mutants, the MRD seemed to give them a sense of security when it came to attacking mutants.

Mystique feared no one and could easily take on a group of three or four overconfident humans but fighting ten or more armed ones was a completely different story and it was easier to stay in hiding. Of course that was made even easier with the return of her powers over a week ago and she found herself slowly but surely regaining her Mystique persona.

At the current moment she was waiting on someone with an interesting piece of information. Knowledge is Power and Mystique intended on getting as much as she could. Running her own underground business selling on information to the top buyer she knew a lot but now she was getting even more information, something closer to heart.

A figure came to her table he wore an overcoat over jeans and a green shirt. Mystique knew the man, the last time she had seen him was on a mobile prison that they had shared. The man was James Madrox. Madrox gave a dazzling smile, which Mystique ignored. She stopped stirring her coffee and took a sip. "I see your doing well." Madrox said

"Let's cut to the chase Madrox," Mystique said, "you have something I want, what do I have to do to get it."

Madrox gave another of his smiles, "I want some information myself," he said, "I suggest we exchange."

"What do you want?"

"I hear you got some info on a mutant that was captured by the MRD."

"What of it?"

"I want to know where he is and I want you to help me break him out."

"Who are you looking for?"

"Guido Carosella. Strong Guy."

Mystique smiled and continued sipping her coffee.


	4. Chapter 4: Master of Magnetism

_**Chapter 4: Master of Magnetism**_

Pyro stood smirking at the right hand side of the Magneto. They were in an abandoned church similar to that of the church they were in the last time they were recruiting mutants. However this time there was a small turnout.

Pyro knew that Magneto was planning something big; exactly what that big thing was, was a mystery to him. All he knew was that Magneto needed a team, not an army but a team ten or more mutants would be good currently Magneto had four members in his brotherhood excluding himself. They were Pyro, Juggernaut, who had survived the carnage at Alcatraz, Sabretooth found by magneto living a low, quiet life and a telepathic mutant called Mastermind.

In front of them was a group of about twelve mutants wanting to join Magneto and his brotherhood before Magneto could recruit them however he had to make sure that they could endure the heat of battle he turned to Mastermind he was wearing a brown trench coat, Mastermind nodded once and immediately the doors to the church burst open and dozens of armed MRD officials stormed in shooting sporadically. Most of the mutants attacked back but some fled immediately, one of the remaining mutants was a huge blob of a man. He grabbed the closest official and threw him through a stained glass window; he then punched another and threw himself over another three. Another mutant, a girl in her late teens, attacked by throwing forks of lightning which came out of her hands but she was shot down by a MRD officer behind her, she recovered quickly but was surrounded by a dozen of them all brandishing their weapons and aiming at her, she threw her palms out and electrocuted the ones closest to the door and made her exit.

Most of the mutants had either been knocked out or had fled only four remained standing, one of them was the huge blob, the other was a Cajun in a long, brown overcoat in his hand were charged cards which he threw at a horde of the officers they exploded on impact and the officers were blown backwards. In his other hand was a metal staff. He whacked an officer on the head with it then swung at his feet, the officer dropped and a single charged card that was thrown on top of him ensured he stayed down.

Another of the mutants fighting was a man; he punched his fists on the floor and rows of earthen stalagmites rose piercing through the unlucky officer in the way. The mutant raised his hands and the back wall of the church collapsed crushing the life out of the remaining officers only two were left standing and they were quickly despatched by the last mutant a girl in her late teens with short blond hair and very pink lips. She threw small balls of energy at the last two that exploded they were blown back into the debris and crumpled to the floor.

"Well done." Magneto said to the four mutants, "you'll make a welcome addition to the Brotherhood. What are your names?"

"I'm Blob." The large man said

"I'm the Gambit." The Cajun said in a thick accent

Magneto turned to the blond girl, "Boom Boom!" she said then winked

"And you are…?"

"The Avalanche."

"Well all of you have passed my test," as he said that the unconscious and lifeless bodies of the MRD officials disappeared. The smashed in window and collapsed wall was all that was left that showed that a fight had taken place within the church.

"Now come I have a lot to do if I am to accomplish my mission."

Magneto led the way out of the destroyed church and, with the safety of the night and Masterminds shield, walked through the empty streets. Magneto took this time to reminisce over the past month. Straight after the battle he was found and approached by Pyro who had seemed to have left the battlegrounds in one piece after his fight with Iceman, at that time Magneto's powers had not returned and he had refused to accept Pyro's idea of a reformation of the Brotherhood. A couple of weeks later his powers returned slowly and he found himself able to lift metal cups and chess pieces. He slowly developed his powers and was now able to lift cars once again however his powers was still weak and would not be able to fight as well as before. He found Pyro and went on his recruiting mission as soon as he found out that the MRD had been established he knew he had little time to do what he needed and after rounding up Sabretooth, Juggernaut, and Mastermind his plan was now in motion. With the addition of the new mutants to the Brotherhood he was about to make his first move, after more than a month in hiding Magneto was about to strike. MRD, X-Men prepare yourselves.


	5. Chapter 5: Breakout!

_**Chapter 5: Breakout!**_

Mystique stood beside Madrox as they surveyed the area. They were hiding in the forest just behind the MRD facility that kept captured mutants. "We go in, we find your friend then we get right back out. You got that." Mystique said, "No detours, no stopping to free other captured mutants."

"I got it." Madrox replied

"Good." Mystique was now in her blue skin wearing white clothes, she had decided that walking around naked was tiring, her skull belt reflected the moonlight and her long blood coloured hair blew with the wind. She poised herself ready for action. She ran through the forest followed by Madrox until she reached the boundaries of the facility, wire fencing protected them. Madrox multiplied himself and formed a human pyramid Mystique climbed to the top and jumped to the other side landing gracefully. Madrox jumped after and the multiples disappeared. They stealthily searched the outside of the facility avoiding searchlights and the occasional guard. They reached a side door most likely a supplies entrance. The door was locked and they had to wait until a guard went in swiping his card through the scanner. Mystique took care of him with a quick kick to the neck rendering him unconscious instantly. She picked the up the card swiped at the door again as it had closed. Multiple Man dragged the unconscious body inside and laid him right by the door blocking any one else's entrance.

The floors were metal and electronic doors barred the end of the corridor. Mystique swiped the card at the scanner and it opened with a click. Mystique shifted herself into the man that she had knocked unconscious and led the way forward being careful to avoid any cameras or guards. The upper levels held the captive mutants but they were heavily guarded. Mystique caught a glimpse of one of the guards and changed the clothes she was wearing to mirror that of theirs but still kept the other guard's face. She instructed Madrox to wait while she entered swiping her card through to open the door

She walked into a long hallway with containment cells on either side; by each cell stood two guards. Obviously this was where they kept the dangerous mutants. Mystique strolled to the end of the hallway to one of the guards there, "The Colonel wants some info on one of the mutants." She said.

"Which one?" the guard asked warily, "you have the reference number."

"I seem to have forgotten the number but I remember his name. Guido Carosella goes by the name of Strong guy."

Mystique waited while the guard typed the name into a mini device he had in his holster.

"Yeah, Carosella's on level three with the rest of the Terrorist mutants." He finally said, "You know what the colonel wants with this mutant."

"No, and it isn't in my place to ask."

"Right."

"If you don't mind I've got one more question."

"Yeah?" the guard asked bored.

"If there was a security breach on this level how long would it take for reinforcements to get here?"

"If they were quiet they wouldn't know, not unless we ask for assistance."

"And how will you do that?"

"Using the communicators on our uniform, you should know this you are wearing one."

"How long does it take to get a message across?"

"About thirty seconds."

"Hmm. Thank you so much. Level three right."

Mystique turned to go then turned back round, "Almost forgot something."

"What d-?" before the guard finished the sentence Mystique kicked him twice, once on the face and another on the chest he fell down gasping for air. The other guards were stunned for a moment giving Mystique just enough time to shift into her blue form and attack the closest guard with a punch to the chest and a kick in the crotch. The rest of the guards were now on full alert but they hadn't radioed for assistance thinking that Mystique was easy to deal with; they were about to be proved wrong.

Mystique lunged at a guard who was going for his gun and with a flurry of lightning fast punches she was able to grab his gun and using him as a human shield start firing on the other guards. "Madrox! Get your ass in here. NOW!" She shouted out before dropping her gun and shield and aiming a kick at a guard's gun, it fell from his hand and he immediately reached for his communicator. Mystique floored him and kicked at his head. Another guard came from behind and shot, Mystique dodged then ran up the nearest wall, she flipped in the air and her hard white boots imprinted the guard's pale, frightened face.

By now Multiple-Man had joined the fight and ten of his copies jumped a guard who was shooting into fast disappearing Multiples. Multiple-Man quickly defeated the rest of the guards before any of them reached their communicators.

"We need to get to Level three." Mystique said picking up two guns and handing one to Multiple-Man. With a quick glance at the unconscious bodies of the defeated guards Mystique and Multiple-Man left the first level and made their way to Level 3.

They took the stairs to Level three and once again Mystique entered first under disguise. She walked to a guard asked for Guido Carosella, using the same cover story. They pointed to a cell and Mystique walked up to it she saw a large man with a tuft of white hair on an otherwise baldhead. He had bleary red eyes and his eyes looked over Mystique with indifference and even a little contempt after all he saw a guard looking over him. "Release him." Mystique ordered.

"I don't know if that' a good id-"

"Fine. Don't release him I'll just tell the colonel that you refused a direct order." Mystique said the words had the impact she expected and she stood aside as one of the guards put his hand over a scanner and the bars of the cell slid up.

"Get up fat guy."

"It's Strong Guy." Guido said in a gravely voice.

"Do you need help taking him to the colonel?"

"No, thank you." Mystique answered and starts walking towards the door. "Wait a minute," the guard said and at his command two guards blocked the exit that Mystique was going to take.

"Dammit," she swore, "So close. Okay you have about a minute to get out of my way or the colonel will be contacted and I doubt he'll be happy to hear about this."

"You know what," the MRD officer walked up to Mystique, "that's exactly what we want. Call Colonel Moss, now."

"Mystique bit her lip and then in one fluid motion lunged at the officer dropping him to his back, she then grabbed her gun from its holster and shot clean, aimed shots that hit its target.

Without needing to be called for this time Multiple-Man entered the fray making copies of himself and unleashing punches, kicks and the occasional head butt.

"James," Guido said punching the closest guard.

"Yeah, Big guy."

"I can't believe you're actually here." Guido picked up two of the guards smashed them into each other. Shots hit the copies and one strayed and hit Guido he winced and in retaliation grabbed the guard's crotch and twisted he screamed bloody murder and Guido taking pleasure from his pain punched him down hard.

One of the remaining guards grabbed his radio and called for help, "Security Breach, there's been a security breach on level 3 assistance is requi-" Mystique kicked the radio out of his hand and jump kicked him in the head, however the message had been sent and in less than a second an alarm went off Mystique could hear the footsteps of at least a dozen guards. "Madrox, cover us!" immediately ten then thirty then forty then fifty copies of James Madrox blocked the door which burst open as more than a dozen guards charged into the room shooting and attacking the multiples which disappeared and then were quickly replaced.

Mystique ran to the door and unsurprisingly it was locked even when she swiped the card through the scanner. "Strong Guy," she said turning to Guido, "make an exit." Guido tensed and then ran full pelt at the door it broke open and then leading the way they descended down the stairs. Guido made another gaping hole when the door to the ground level was also locked. The group ran into ambush as dozens of guards surrounded them guns levelled and poised to attack, "You have one chance to give yourselves up." Mystique ignored them and turned to Multiple-Man, in seconds the small group were surrounded by hundreds of multiple men and with this cover they ran out attacking any guards that came at them.

They reached the wire fencing and once again Multiple-Man formed a human-pyramid allowing Mystique, Guido and himself to reach the other side. "Run into the hills." Without a second thought they sprinted into the hills protected by the dark of the night and the trees.

They stopped in the middle of the dense woods a perfect place to hide. They knew they had been followed and as a precaution Mystique ordered Multiple-Man to lead them astray and then instructed Guido to hide with her in the trees where they had a better vantage point. After an hour, when Madrox had returned and they thought that the MRD had lost their tracks Mystique asked Madrox the question that she had been waiting to do.

"I sure hope the information you give me is worth all of this," she said, "care to tell me what it is?"

"Yeah," James Madrox reached into his pocket took out a folded document he passed it to Mystique. She took it scanned the pages of writing and the pictures that accompanied it.

"Where did you get this?" she asked

"I have my sources."

"Is it true."

"I believe so."

"Do you know where they are?"

"The guy lives in the east. Don't know about the girl."

"Right, we should stay in contact I think I may need you again." With that Mystique jumped onto a branch and like a jungle cat made her way through the trees. She shifted when the forestry ended and stuffed the documents into a pocket. Who would've thought that the great Magneto Master of magnetism had children, twins to be precise. Well she would definitely use this to her advantage.


	6. Chapter 6: A Situation Arises

**_Chapter 6: A Situation Arises_**

Hank, Logan, Emma and Kurt sat in chairs in Ororo's office for their staff meeting. Ororo herself sat behind her desk a document in her hands the same document that everybody else had in their hands as well.

"Right, so are we clear about the timetable?" she asked and nods from the rest of the staff was her response. "Good. So Logan you'll teach P.E and survival skills. Hank you'll teach Science and Maths, I'll teach Humanities with the exception of Religious Studies which Kurt will teach. And Emma," Ororo turned to face her, "You'll teach English and Human science. The older kids will also tutor the younger students in subjects that they're good at. Okay so am I missing anything?"

"No, you're good Ororo." Hank said, "Maybe you should take a day off you've been working non stop during the day and I sincerely doubt you have had much sleep."

"Thanks Hank but I'm fine and with Emma here I'm sure things should go smoothly. Now we've got ten minutes before lesson starts let's get to it."

* * *

><p>Emma sat in the rec room sipping some iced tea and reading a copy of <em>The Once and Future King<em>. She glanced up and saw the girl that she had met on her first day at the mansion, Rogue, the one who wore gloves inside. She had been curious as to why and had tried reading her mind to find out, but she had come to a barrier with that idea for some reason Rogue's mind was very hard to read it was as if she was fifty people at the same time with fragments of different memories and feelings in her mind. She discovered why when she had read her boyfriend, Bobby's mind. She found out that Rogue's ability isolated her from others forcing her to wear gloves and the rare times she did touch someone their being and memories were absorbed. Emma also knew that Rogue had attempted to get rid of her powers but it had backfired with their unexpected return.

Emma watched her closely from where she sat debating over whether she should go over or not. In the end she decided to go and talk to her and she got up placing her half empty glass on the closest table. "How are you dear?" Rogue ignored her and continued staring at nothing in particular. Emma tried again sitting a bit away from her and giving a calm smile. "I understand what you must be going through."

"Na ya don't."

"Well I could try to understand. I am a telepath you know."

"And how is that supposed ta help me?" she replied coldly

"I could try to find out why you can't turn off your powers. Maybe telepathically make a trigger that could allow you to have control of your powers."

"Could ya actually da that?" she asked sceptically

"No." Emma sighed. "But you shouldn't shut yourself off from everyone because of your predicament. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right?"

"No!"

Rogue got up and left the rec room. Emma sighed defeated and took a stroll down the garden. She wasn't the only one she passed Ororo who seemed to be taking Hank's advice and relaxing. She smiled when she spotted her and Emma smiled back. "You seem to be settling in fast. I talked to some of the kids from your English class this morning they seemed to have enjoyed it, at least better when we got Logan to teach it." She said with a chuckle. "Speaking of the little devil." Ororo looked past Emma and she turned to follow her gaze and standing alone by the water fountain was Logan. Ororo made to go talk to him and Emma followed.

"Hey Logan."

"Hey." He said, "I see you're not in your office."

"Yeah, I'm enjoying relaxing time. No new students, no situation I have to deal with."

"Ororo, you have to see this." Hank called out from a few metres away.

"So much for that."

Ororo followed Hank into the rec room and pushed past a crowd of students who were all watching a news item on the T.V. "Hank turn it up."

"_And in other news, a Mutant Response Division containment facility for terrorist mutants was broken into by two or more mutants. It is reported that these mutants conducted a rescue operation for fellow mutant, Guido Carosella. Almost three-dozen MRD officers were taken down in this operation. The MRD have responded to this attack by increasing their efforts to capture terrorist mutants and working in collaboration with Dr. Boliver Trask and being funded by Warren Worthington II, who was previously in news for his work creating the mutant cure, they will be creating a very efficient mutant-tracking machine. In a related story many mutants are complaining about the return of their mutant abilities after…"_

Hank turned down the volume and looked at Ororo. "Do we know this Guido person?"

"I'm not sure we do." Hank replied

"Well then Kurt, Hank I want you to find out who he is and which mutant would break him out. If we even know the person."

"Right." Kurt and Hank left the rec room on their way to the war room where the computers were kept. Ororo turned to Emma and Logan, "Worthington's working with the MRD." She said. "You'd think he'd be supportive after all his son's a mutant."

"And his son saved his sorry ass back at Alcatraz."

"Call Warren tell him to meet me in my office, hopefully he'd know something about this mutant-tracking machine or at least be able to find out."

"I'm on it." Logan said before walking out of the room.

Emma sat next to Ororo who had her hands in her head. "Just when I thought I had a free day."

"You still can." Emma offered, "You'll be able to solve this and get back to your relaxing day."

Ororo scoffed at the thought, "I doubt that." She sighed, "If you need me I'll be in the office." Ororo stood up and left.

Emma sat by her desk in her bedroom. A phone call interrupted her train of thought. "Hello?"

"Emma have you made any progress?" the voice asked

"It depends what you mean by progress."

"Can you freely use the mutant tracking machine?"

"No, but-"

"No excuses. You have been at the mansion for a week. Find a reason to make them trust you. Ensure you get to use Cerebro as soon as possible time is our enemy and right now he has the upper hand." The dial tone rang in Emma's ears and she hung up the phone.

"Well someone's testy."

"Are you sure you know nothing about this Warren?" Ororo sat behind her desk staring at Warren who sat opposite her his wings folded and hidden behind his coat.

"Yes I'm sure," he replied, "but don't worry I'll get to the bottom of this. I'll speak to him I'm sure there's been some kind of mix up."


	7. Chapter 7: Danger Room Session

This is my longest chapter and it is a danger room session. Also in this chapter Emma Frost plans to make her move more details on that in the next chapter. Thank you to all those that have given me good reviews and encouraged me to keep writing. Please R&RDisclaimer: I do not own the X-Men. They belong to Marvel.

**_Chapter 7: Danger Room Session_**

Emma Frost stood in the control room of The Danger room. Hank had shown her the room the previous day and she had put it in her memory. When she had heard earlier today that Ororo was planning a danger room session, she finally had her opportunity to observe the X-Men do what they did best. They had become a bit popular after their fight at Alcatraz however for different reasons.

Emma watched the scene unfold. The X-Men had split into two teams one led by Ororo who was called Storm and the other led by Logan or Wolverine.

"So are we clear about our Mission objectives?" Storm asked her team. She was wearing her black leather suit like the rest of her team, her billowing, and silver cape blowing in the soft wind. Her team nodded back their response. Okay, pair up and stick to your objectives. Stay in contact with each other." She pointed to her communicator, which everyone had on his or her left ear. Her team consisted of Nightcrawler, Beast, Iceman and Rogue. Storm was Team Leader. They were to retrieve a device situated at the end of the street they were on before Wolverine's team of Shadowcat, Colossus, Angel and Jubilee a recent addition to the team, got it.

As the team paired up and despatched Storm took to the air to get a better vantage point. She flew over a desolated street that looked like it had been through hell. The buildings were collapsed and debris and smoke filled the air. A little far off she spotted Wolverine's team. "Iceman, Nightcrawler." She said into her communicator. "The opposition are about sixty metres to your left. Gain their attention and take as much of them out as you can."

"Yes, Storm." Iceman replied

"Don't take any unnecessary risks, though."

"Got it."

Iceman and Nightcrawler advanced staying under the cover of the night and the fallen buildings. A few metres in front of them Wolverine stood with his claws out sniffing the air, he turned his head to where they were hiding and smiled. "Hey elf, snowball." He then took a few steps back and said. "Take 'em out!"

Jubilee, who was standing next to him, raised her hands palms facing the building Iceman and Nightcrawler hid behind and colourful electricity shot out of her hands. Nightcrawler bamfed and Iceman jumped out as their hiding place exploded upon impact. Jubilee turned to Iceman and attacked once more, Iceman just managed to jump out of the way and counterattacked, he raised his hand and Ice daggers shot out. Jubilee destroyed the first couple but was grazed by the third. She cried out and grabbed her bleeding right arm. "Get back!" Wolverine ordered then advanced on Iceman. Before he got close Nightcrawler appeared on his shoulder and teleported him away he returned after a second then watched Wolverine drop from midair winded.

"Dat von't keep him down for long, ve should get going Kitty, Peter und Warren are on the vay to the device."

"And you won't be joining him." Jubilee shouted before letting out a full blast of rainbow lightning at Nightcrawler who was shocked by the outburst and didn't teleported away. Kurt was thrown backwards and his chest burnt. Things were only made worse when he crashed through a building. He fell into unconsciousness.

Jubilee unleashed a less powerful blast at Iceman who was still stunned by the sudden attack and was taking longer to recover.

"That's all you got Storm!" Wolverine, who had recovered, shouted into the air.

Storm who hovered a bit away instructed, "Iceman pull back now. Join Beast and Rogue. I'll take it from here."

Storm slowly descended making her presence known. She aimed her hand at Jubilee a single bolt of lightning struck her straight in the chest. She let out a cry of agony and crumpled to the ground defeated.

"She was just a kid." Wolverine started

"Who needs to be ready for any kind of action in the field." Storm ended then she flew up high. "Beast, Rogue." She called.

"Yes, Storm." Beast replied

"Nightcrawler is out of action. But I took out Jubilee. Slow your pace Iceman will be joining you he's hurt but he'll live. I'll go slow the team and take care of Angel."

"Alright."

Storm increased her speed until she saw Shadowcat and Colossus with Angel hovering over them. Her eyes turned cloudy white and she summoned a wind to blow Angel off course, he smashed into an upturned car but the wind wasn't blowing strong enough for the impact to be anywhere near fatal. He quickly recovered and got to his feet but Storm could see he had suffered damage; Angel limped and found it hard to take to the air. Shadowcat and Colossus saw Storm and quickly ran to aid Angel. It would take some time before they were on course once more; Storm took pride in fulfilling her objective.

Emma drew in a breath at that, she couldn't believe the power and ferocity in Storm's attacks, first the lightning strike at Jubilee and now her attack on Angel. If this is what Storm was like when she was training her students then heaven help her enemies. Emma made a mental note to take Storm out first if she ever got into a fight with the X-Men.

Storm still hovering, said into her communicator, "The team has been slowed down but they'll be back on track soon, hurry up!"

"Right," Rogue's voice said, "Iceman's joined up with us so we'll increase our pace."

"Good."

Storm spotted Logan a few yards off and she flew to him, landing gently in front of him.

"How d'you think they're doing?" he asked.

"Well, the younger students are getting the hang of it." Storm said, "I just hope they can cope in real situations."

"They survived Alcatraz." He stated

"Barely."

"You need to have more faith in them."

"Yeah, well I'd rather be faithless than have to speak at another funeral." Storm snapped back. She calmed then said, "I'm sorry. It's just that both Scott and Jean died. And the professor, he died because we couldn't protect him."

"This time around Storm, you're teaching 'em. You know what to do."

"I hope you're right Logan."

"Right, I gotta go." He said then took off at a run. Storm levitated into the air and flew off. "Shadowcat, Colossus, Angel what's the situation?" Wolverine asked into his communicator.

"Angel's grounded." Shadowcat replied, "Storm blew him into a car."

"Can he walk?"

"Just about."

"Continue to the objective. I'm gonna even the odds a bit."

Wolverine sniffed the thick air until he caught a familiar scent and set course for it. He continued for several minutes only stopping to sniff the air again.

Wolverine found his target a few yards in front. He crept closer then lunged at Beast dropping him to the floor. He quickly got up and aimed a kick at Iceman's face, it connected and Iceman slumped to the ground. Wolverine then targeted Rogue. She quickly pulled of her glove rested her hand on Beast's forehead draining him of his powers, permanently taking him out of the mission. Gloving her hand once more she attacked Wolverine with punches and kicks. None of them connected and she soon found herself dodging and blocking Wolverine's own attacks.

Wolverine drew out his claws only as an attempt to scare her, whether it worked or not he didn't know as Rogue gave her best poker face, then jumped several feet up she flipped in the air and when her feet were facing down she landed on Wolverine's shoulders the impact driving him down. Rogue used this opportunity to wake Iceman up and run in the direction of Angel, Shadowcat, and Colossus who were fast approaching their primary objective.

Emma was surprised watching Rogue in action the way she adapted so quickly to another's powers she was also stunned by the animal in Wolverine another person with a foggy past. Emma started think reading the minds of the X-Men were like shooting blanks in the dark. You never get anywhere.

Shadowcat heard them and turned to face them, Colossus also turned tensing himself for a fight. "Warren." Colossus called, "keep going we'll hold 'em off." Angel nodded and ran feeling his wings healing it wouldn't be long before he could fly again.

Within moments Colossus' body was encased in metal and he squared up against Rogue who attacked still empowered by the strength and agility of Beast. She jumped in the air and aimed a kick at Colossus, he caught it and in a spinning motion threw Rogue into the wall of a destroyed building. He ran to where she lay hoping to knock her unconscious and take her out of the mission.

Shadowcat phased and watched as Iceman's daggers passed through like they would pass through air. Iceman, standing a few metres in front of her, was encased in ice an ability he had only mastered back on the grounds of Alcatraz when he was fighting head to head (literally) with Pyro, who he defeated with a head butt. Iceman gave up on his attack and decided to be ready to defend himself, he remembered what he had been taught; whenever your offensive tactics fail then turn to defensive, allow that time to find your opponent's weakness and use that against him. Iceman was taking on the first half of that advice but he doubted that Kitty had a weakness; the girl could protect herself from anything.

Kitty ran in solid form towards Iceman as she did so she saw Iceman raise his hand, she prepared to phase but then saw him aim at the ground. At first she thought that Iceman was going to make one of his ice slides so she increased her speed but too late she realised she was wrong, instead Iceman froze a layer of ice on the ground where she ran and she slipped falling to the ground. Iceman would attack but that wouldn't make a difference she would just phase herself against any attack. He waited and watched Kitty get up and run straight at him.

Shadowcat ran through him and then aimed a roundhouse kick at the back of his head. Iceman fell to the ground holding his head he lost control of his focus and his Ice encasement thawed. Shadowcat allowed herself a grin before continuing her attack on Iceman. Behind her Rogue, who had just taken out Colossus by collapsing a stone building on him, Rogue doubted he could get up from that but she could never be sure with Colossus.

Presently she stood behind Kitty who was advancing on Iceman. Rogue once again pulled off her glove and touched Shadowcat's bare neck. Kitty shuddered and gasped for breath before falling to the ground, not yet unconscious as Rogue hadn't held on long enough. She put her glove back on and helped Iceman to his feet. As she did so she heard a loud crashing sound from the direction she came from, obviously she hadn't defeated Colossus yet. Rogue prepared for a fight but her communicator beeped on with Storm's voice on the other end, "Rogue, Iceman Angel is fast approaching the objective. Forget Colossus and go stop him before he gets it."

"Right" she replied.

"Remember you've past the midway point which means that the team leader can no longer help you."

"Yeah, ah know." She said, "Come on Bobby. We gotta go."

Angel who was in the air as his wings had finally healed was oblivious to the fact that Iceman and Rogue were not far behind him and getting closer with each second. Iceman stood on his ice-slide encased in ice once again. Rogue stood behind him and they followed Angel as they gained on their objective.

"If you can get me closer I can jump on him." Rogue said.

"Then hold on tight." Iceman increased the speed of he ice-slide until they were directly below Angel.

"I can't get higher." Iceman said, "you're gonna have to jump up rather than down." Rogue only nodded and jumped up with all her strength and Beast's strength she wrapped her hands around Angel's waist. The sudden weight pushed Angel down and they began to lose altitude. As they plummeted down Rogue let go of Angel and gracefully landed. Angel didn't have such a graceful landing as he slammed into the ground face first.

"Not again." Angel groaned in agony.

"Sorry shugah, ah had to." Rogue said and followed Iceman on foot.

Colossus and Shadowcat later arrived where Angel lay panting with the effort of running non-stop to reach the objective. Catching their breaths back she asked Angel what had happened and he explained.

"We're not too far off." Angel said when he had finished explaining, "Maybe we can catch them."

"Can you fly?" Peter asked.

"Yeah."

"Right, go knock Iceman of his slide then go for the objective." He said. "Kitty and I will deal with Rogue."

Angel took off with a running start leaving Colossus and Shadowcat on foot.

Angel flew as silently as he could behind Iceman and then with one quick burst of speed he propelled himself straight into Iceman pushing him off his slide. Angel watched him fall and winced, "That's got to hurt."

He then continued for the objective.

Rogue stood in a huge desolate area not even a derelict building stood near her just a cloud of dust and dirt and piles and piles of debris. By now Rogue was sweaty and sticky and the dirt and dust painted her face. She had a few cuts as well but that's what happened when you were in a level 16 Danger room mission. No more soft stuns when your out or even fake blood. Storm wanted to ensure that they were prepared for their next assignment and she doubted that it would be easier then Alcatraz which had been the X-Men's biggest battle yet.

Frustration threatened to well up in Rogue, these were the co-ordinates she was sure of it and yet no objective. "Where's the fucking device?" she muttered to herself as if that would make it appear. "And where the heck's Bobby?"

Rogue wanted find the device before the other team arrived. Then she saw Angel fly over and land, then Kitty and Peter.

"Where's the objective?" Peter asked "You must have gotten here first why don't you have the device?"

"Aint that the million dollar question."

"You're saying you can't find it." Angel said.

"Nah ah can't." Rogue replied, "Have you seen Bobby, he should be here by now."

"I'm right here!" Bobby yelled from a few metres away the y watched him approach and lean on Rogue; he was still little winded from the fall.

"What do we do now?" as she Kitty asked that several lights appeared in the dark and soon they were surrounded by hordes of MRD officers all armed and dangerous.

They attacked with a flurry of bullets all aiming at the group of confused mutants. They broke out of their reverie and Shadowcat embraced Iceman phasing him as well as herself against the bullets. Colossus, in his metal glory, stood in front of Rogue shielding her from the bullets.

"Okay, this weren't part of our objectives." Rogue said.

"Maybe there's been a malfunction or something." Iceman offered still embracing Kitty.

"No matter what happened, we need to take 'em out." Angel, who had taken to the air dodging bullets as they came, said.

"Temporary truce?" Peter asked

"Temporary truce." Rogue replied.

"Angel! Draw their fire." Iceman instructed.

"On it!" Angel flew down to one of the officers and lifted him into the air, at once a barrage of bullets followed him allowing the group to divide and conquer.

Still blessed with Beast's strength attacked the closest officer, grabbing his gun and kicking him away. She then used the gun to whack one of them on the side of their head then in their stomach. She dropped the gun and jumped into the air landing on three of them crushing them into unconsciousness.

Colossus ran through a group of them their bullets ricocheting off of him and hitting a few of the officers. The officers that weren't shot were defeated with punches by Colossus. Peter grabbed one of them by the legs and, using him like a baseball bat, hit the surrounding officers.

Iceman threw Ice daggers at the surrounding officers stabbing them in the neck, head and legs. When a group of them tried to charge at him he threw up an Ice wall and the banged into that slowing them for good. Iceman started to freeze the guns when they posed a threat and ended up freezing the officers instead they smashed into pieces when Colossus started swing one of the officer's about and hit them. Iceman then begun to freeze the officers, throwing an Ice dagger whenever Colossus didn't smash them.

Shadowcat kicked and punched whenever she wasn't phasing from bullets and other attacks from the MRD.

Angel was busy lifting up officers and throwing them on other officers, twisting and weaving as an attempt to dodge the bullets. A few of them hit him but luckily they hit his bulletproof, black, leather suit. He then grabbed officers' guns and shooting the MRD until the ammunition ran out where he would swoop down and grab another gun.

The group of mutants slowly but surely defeated the entire mass of MRD officers and as reward Angel spotted the device hidden in the mass of lifeless bodies. The device itself was no bigger than a television remote; it was silver and had one big, red button on it. Angel picked it up showed it to the team and pressed the button. The apocalyptic destruction faded and dissolved, the upturned cars, debris from destroyed buildings and even the dust and dirt all disappeared and in moments the team stood in a vast silver chamber. "Simulation Complete." Echoed around the chamber.

Standing by the doors to the exit were, Storm, Wolverine, Beast and Nightcrawler.

"Well done." Storm said, "You adapted well. In a mission not everything goes according to plan and we are likely to meet some very difficult and unexpected situations, by calling a truce and working together you were able to protect each other and quickly stop the MRD. Well done once more, you passed the test. Class dismissed." Storm, Wolverine and the other's moved away to let the younger X-Men go."

"Wash up, and get to class." Wolverine said, "You got Human Science with Emma."

The kids moaned and a ghost of a smile appeared on Logan's face.

"See," he turned to Storm. "They passed."

"All of them, except Jubilee." Beast said

"Where is she?" Storm asked.

"She left earlier, she didn't vant to vait." Nightcrawler answered.

"Anyway, thanks everyone for coming," Storm smiled, "especially to Logan for preparing the session."

"No prob," Logan responded, "After all I am a survival skills teacher."

"Yeah, though maybe next time you might take it easy with the amount of MRD soldiers you put in the mission."

Logan laughed a deep and gravely sound, "Like I said I am a survival skills teacher."

* * *

><p>Emma made her exit and walked into her bedroom in one observation she had learned the abilities of all the X-Men and the ones to watch out for, Storm, Rogue and Wolverine were the strongest but the others were powerful as well. The X-Men indeed were formidable as rumoured. A familiar sound interrupted her thoughts once again. She reached for her phone and answered the call.<p>

"Yes."

"You have just run out of time." The male voice said. "Use Cerebro by any means possible and locate the mutant."

"How am I supposed to do that?" Emma questioned, "Cerebro is opened with an iris recognition scan and I doubt that they've included me in their databases."

"Emma you are a telepath use that to your advantage, force one of them to open it for you. Or walk around naked in front of the men." The voice said. "I don't care what you do just make sure that the next time I call you have the location of the mutant."

"Damn you Shaw." Emma cursed

"No, it will be you that will be damned if you do not complete the task you came to do." Sebastian Shaw replied and with that he hung up the phone.

Emma used words that would shock a truck driver then left her room slamming the door behind her.


	8. Chapter 8: Cerebro

_**Chapter 8: Cerebro**_

Emma sat in the rec room deep in thought. Sebastian Shaw wasn't a man to cross and when he threatened you one shouldn't take it lightly. Emma had no choice but to mentally force someone to open Cerebro for her but who. The students would be easier to control but they wouldn't have access to Cerebro. That left Storm, who was completely out of the question; If Emma took Storm out of her office for more than a minute then someone would notice and it wouldn't be good to be found in Cerebro with a brain dead Storm next to her. Emma considered Logan but having trouble reading his mind she was bound to run into some walls when it came to controlling his mind.

As she continued to sit Hank walked into the room a cup of coffee in hand a warm smile, which he directed at Emma, "Hello Emma," he said. "I see you have free period."

"Everyone's in class at the moment?" Emma asked. Hank nodded his answer. "Yes. Just you and me."

Emma smiled then stood stepping closer to where Hank sat sipping his steamy cuppa. "_**Hank could you do something for me?**" _Her voice was laced with power and with every word she held Hank within her power tightening her grip. "_**I need you to help me?**" _Her voice seemed to echo in Hank's ears getting steadily louder and louder until all he could think of was Emma. Pleasing her, loving her.

"Okay." Hank nodded an absent look on his face.

"_**Put down the cup Hank.**"_ Hank did so placing his cup down on the coffee table next to the couch.

"_**Good. Now I need you to take me to Cerebro.**"_

"Yes, Emma." He said, "This way. Follow me I'll take you there."

Emma followed Hank to the elevators and down the hallways of the lower levels. At the far end of the hallway was a door closed with an iris scanner in the middle."

"_**Open the door Hank.**"_ Emma ordered

"Yes." Hank walked to the door and kneeled so that his eyes were level with the scan. A laser shot from the scanner lit up his eyes a moment later a computerised voice said, "Welcome Henry McCoy."

"_**Thank you, Hank. Now wait out here in case anyone comes.**" _Emma instructed. "_**And if they do, turn them away.**"_

"Yes, Emma."

Emma entered the vast room and the door slid shut behind her. A long platform stretched in front of her at the end of the platform was the helmet. It lay on some kind of metal desk. Emma walked towards it once she reached the helmet she placed it on her head. At once white lights filled the room and her head began to ache with the minds of others that streamed into hers. How on earth could the professor do this? Emma focused and the white lights turned red. Emma had no idea of the immense amount of mutants around the world and was stunned she shook herself out of her reverie and focused on the task at hand.

She concentrated on a particular mutant, though not knowing who this mutant was exactly was hard especially if you didn't have practise using Cerebro. She searched one continent at a time looking for someone with immense abilities. Then something caught her attention the person she was searching for had the powers she was looking for and she was using it right now. "Oh no."

Emma left Cerebro deep in thought. She interrupted them for a moment to release her hold on Hank, "_**Back to the rec room, forget everything that's happened in the last ten minutes.**" _Hank left his footsteps echoing.

Emma debated on whether to contact Shaw or not. If the woman she had found was using her powers then that only meant devastation. She decided to contact Shaw but she couldn't wait to get to her room and use her phone instead she did what a telepath did best.

-**_Sebastian._**

**_-Emma haven't I told you not to intrude in my thoughts. A simple phone call would suffice. _**

**_-Shaw you know I wouldn't contact you this way if it wasn't urgent and it is._**

**_-You found the mutant._**

**_-Yeah, a woman in her late twenties_**

**_-Where is she?_**

**_-London. Shaw you need to hurry._**

**_-Why? She's using her powers now. Without mental barriers she's stronger than us. Get to her before she strengthens right now the phoenix force is weak._**

**_-I'll deal with it. I'll take the cuckoos. Well done Emma._**

* * *

><p>Warren stood in his father's study staring him right in the eye. His anger was getting the better of him and he had resorted to a stony silence as a way to contain it.<p>

"You need to understand, son." His father reasoned, "I'm only funding a project to stop mutants like Magneto and the scum that almost made you an orphan."

"This is not right!" Warren flushed, "Don't you know what the MRD are doing? They're taking mutants and unfairly detaining them."

"No they're not Warren they're trying to help them by taking the dangerous ones and stopping them for good."

"I can't believe you're doing this. You're siding with a group who break into people's houses at night and drag them out, who attack mutants with unnecessary force."

"Warren you're straying from the point." His father interjected, "They're only doing this to the dangerous, terrorist mutants."

"Do you see them doing this to dangerous humans?" Warren questioned

"I'm sure they would if-"

"No. No they wouldn't." Warren practically spat out, "Do you want to know why? Because of Human rights. The government thinks just because we're mutants we don't have rights and you. A father to a mutant son and you're siding with them, financing their atrocities? I can't believe you dad." Warren stormed out of the room slamming he door shut behind him.


	9. Chapter 9: Brotherhood Attacks

Hope you like my original character Forme believe it or not it took a long time to think of her, any way enjoy the story. The Brotherhood makes their move and Magneto's plan is finally in motion. Thank you to all my reviewers. TristeAlma, and Celeste Genevieve especially. R&R

* * *

><p><strong><em>Chapter 9: Brotherhood Attacks<em>**

Magneto stood by the exit of his hideout flanked by his Brotherhood. He had just recently recruited one extra mutant to the Brotherhood. The mutant was a woman in her mid to late twenties; she called herself Forme because of her ability to turn her body into any object or weapon. Magneto had taken to her when he had witness her fight a group of MRD by turning her hand into a sword and slicing a few of them in two. Forme had brown eyes the same colour of her skin and a short bob haircut.

Forme stood to the right of Magneto as they prepared for their first strike. Magneto had explained everything about the operation they were to only attack the MRD that would no doubt launch a counterattack and the X-Men if they appeared. Magneto had made it clear that he had a hidden agenda and he needed the distraction of the attack they were about to make in order for Magneto to retrieve something. He was taking Juggernaut and Mastermind with him leaving Pyro and Sabretooth in charge of the rest of the team.

The Brotherhood headed out in a silver jet-plane 'borrowed' by Magneto from an air force facility. Pyro and Sabretooth boarded the jet-plane followed by the rest of the Brotherhood with the exception of Magneto, Juggernaut and Mastermind who took another 'borrowed' aircraft, a helicopter.

An hour later and the Brotherhood had left the comfort of their underground base and were now landing in the middle of a street in New York City. They knew what they had to do and there was no point wasting time, besides they were already drawing attention, it wasn't everyday a jet-plane landed in the middle of a street. Civilians began to stare in shock and curiosity but not in horror. _At least not yet._ Pyro thought. Straight after that thought Pyro sparked a flame and, using his powers, cultivated it then he launched a fireball into a nearby retail shop. The horror began there.

The crowd that had gathered to watch what was going on immediately dispersed screaming and shouting. Pyro laughed as he launched another fireball into a car causing an explosion. The car lifted into the air and crashed into an unsuspecting civilian, he cried out in pain but in less than minutes he was dead and Pyro didn't feel a thing. Maybe two years ago he would have but after participating in a war he found himself almost invulnerable to that kind of feeling.

Gambit stood next to the smirking Pyro and frowned. _Dis aint right._ He thought regardless however of how he felt he started throwing charged cards into cars and shops making sure to avoid any people. As he did this Gambit took the time think about his life so far. Before joining the Brotherhood Gambit had been apart of the Thieves' Guild an elite group of professional thieves that engaged in stealing anything from jewels to money. As well as stealing stuff for themselves the Guild stole things for wealthy clients. He had fled the Guild when he had refused an assignment, apparently you couldn't refuse the Guild and after getting into a fight with one of the members he had fled. Some good that had done. He left to try and start a new life, but with the MRD roaming about hurting innocent mutants he had to do something, he thought joining Magneto was the way to fight back, he wasn't sure whether he was right about that.

"Finally!" Sabretooth practically growled, "A fight." This outburst broke Gambit out of his reverie and he prepared for combat. The MRD had arrived in vans and armoured cars and dozens of them flooded the now abandoned streets. Standing at the front Gambit was going to be the first to land an attack, Sabretooth however thought contrary to this launching into the air and landing a few metres in front of the MRD front line. Immediately the MRD started shooting the Brotherhood and Sabretooth retaliated by grabbing the closest gunman wrenching his weapon from his hands and effectively breaking his neck with a fierce punch to the head jerking it backwards. Sabretooth heard the snap of bones and grinned a dark toothy grin his white razor sharp teeth gleaming.

Pyro launched fireballs into the air and watched them smack into groups of MRD burning them and their guns. A few MRD officers ran up to him firing constantly. Pyro sparked another flame and blasted two of them with fireballs, which he had formed into raptors, and the last one he defeated with a flamethrower like attack. He listened to their screams and laughed with glee.

Just behind him Blob sat on two MRD officers and was struggling to stand up, once he did he found that his huge stomach had smacked into an officer that would have attacked him had he stayed sitting down. Now standing the Blob smashed his fists into anyone that came his way.

Boom-Boom was throwing glowing balls of energy, the size of her fist, at MRD officers that strayed too close. In one attack she had thrown dozens of her energy balls into the air and watched the rain of explosion that followed, two dead MRD resulted from that attack and she had punched her fist into the air.

Forme was taking two MRD officers at the same time. She had morphed her left hand into a sword and her right hand into a hammer slicing and slamming the unfortunate victims.

Next to Forme Avalanche was pummelling the life out of an officer that had gotten way too close, once he had knocked him unconscious Avalanche focused on the group of MRD sneaking up on Pyro while he had his back turned burning other MRD into hell. Avalanche smashed his fist on the floor and the ground underneath the four sneaky officer lifted throwing them into the air and slamming into the floor when gravity had taken over. Pyro turned around at the sound, spotted the officers, saw the crushed ground then gave a wink to Avalanche before continuing his free cremating service to the MRD officer in front of him.

Gambit was easily beating the MRD attacking with his charged staff and cards whenever a punch or a kick didn't work. Two MRD officers behind Gambit started firing and Gambit quickly turned around and slammed his kinetically charged staff into the ground launching the officers into the air. Gambit then ran staff at the ready into a group of other officers throwing glowing purple cards every moment. The cards were the standard 52 cards you found in a normal deck, Gambit didn't have a preference in deck or in card save for the Queen of Hearts his lucky charm. She'd gotten him out of more tight spots than an acne-faced teen.

When the tide of the battle had tilted in the Brotherhood's favour and most of the MRD were either dead or unconscious Pyro began to think of a victory dance he would make as he thought of this, and at the same time burned an MRD officer, he heard a helicopter. When he looked up he saw two helicopters both of them belonging to news organisations hat were filming the battles, he gave a smile for the camera and then continued incinerating the officer when he looked up again he saw half a dozen aircrafts carrying MRD reinforcements. Before one of the MRD aircrafts even landed they had begun to attack firing smart missiles all locked on a target, one of the members of the brotherhood. The seven missiles shot down in deadly formation.

"Shit!" Forme swore, "What do we do?"

"We burn them out of the sky." Pyro shouted and launched a fireball at one of the missiles and watched it explode. "Yo, Cajun!" Pyro turned to Gambit, "A little help."

"Of course, mon amie." Gambit threw a card at a missile. The card exploded and veered the missile of course slightly but did little else. Gambit threw another three cards and the missile blew. Boom-Boom had already joined in creating her balls and giving them to Sabretooth to throw. With the combined power of Gambit, Pyro, Boom-Boom and Sabretooth they were able to destroy all the missiles.

"Now attack the crafts!" Pyro ordered.

The team did just so, but the armoured craft absorbed most of their attacks.

"You should attack the propellers." Avalanche advised and his idea proved to work when one aircraft veered of course and propelled down to the ground. Fast.

The aircraft did not bother firing more missiles they had served their purpose. By attacking the Brotherhood from the air they had taken its attention from the MRD who advanced on them with guns and something extra. The aircrafts turned back.

"What are they doing?" Forme asked.

"Maybe we scared them off." Blob offered

"Actually," Avalanche said, "They were distracting us."

The Brotherhood turned to see dozens more armed MRD officers approaching, but they weren't alone. Approaching with them was half a dozen giant robotic scorpions aiming their stingers at the Brotherhood. A laser came out of all six stingers one of them hit Pyro in the chest but missed everyone else.

"Brotherhood we'd like to introduce you to the Sentinel Crawler II." One of the officers shouted out, "The second of its type but deadly as ever, you have one chance to surrender!"

"As if." Blob replied.

The Brotherhood attacked. Pyro had been stunned with the laser and knocked into unconsciousness almost immediately. The lasers were of a special type designed especially for mutants, they caused a temporary reaction with the mutant genes causing pain too strong to endure.

Sabretooth at the head of the attack jumped onto one of the metal giants and pummelled it with his fists and scratching with his claws. In response the sting laser blasted Sabretooth off the Sentinel Crawler and crashing into the ground hard metres away.

Forme, who had followed Sabretooth's lead, was hacking at the Crawler with her right hand, which she had transformed into an axe. When she saw Sabretooth get blasted off his Crawler she immediately attacked the sting laser on the crawler she was on, she turned both her arms into chainsaws and cut through the laser. She spotted Avalanche behind her and she quickly jumped off the crawler.

Avalanche slammed his palms on to the floor and the vibrations he created split the ground under the crawler and it fell in, Boom-Boom threw a few of her balls and watched the Sentinel Crawler II explode.

* * *

><p>Inside her office Ororo was speaking to Warren about what he found out.<p>

"He says he's funding them in their research and development." Warren said.

"So he actually is willingly supporting them." Ororo said, "Do you know what it is that the MRD are developing."

"I don't doubt that my father knows, but he didn't tell me." Warren sighed afterwards, "I can't believe he would do this after all the drama that the 'cure' caused."

"It's okay Warren you need to take time to calm down and think things through. I'll call you if I need to talk to you again."

"Okay." Warren stood and walked to the door closing it firmly behind him.

Ororo sat at her desk thinking, there was a lot she needed to sort out both external and domestic activities had to be dealt with. One of them, was the problem of running out of room within the mansion, the tudents already shared rooms and Ororo had to do something before the staff had to share rooms aswell. She had decided that she would solve the problem by building another wing to the mansion using the money the professor had left behind in his will. Thinking about the professor brought tears to her eyes, she knew she wasn't ever going to get over the pain it had caused or the whole that it had brought with it. Emptiness filled her completely, a chasm of never-ending turmoil threatening to consume her. Ororo wiped her tears as she heard a knock on the door. "Come in." she called and watched Kurt and Hank walk in.

"What is it?" Ororo asked

"We have found some information on Guido Carosella."

" Please, sit down." Ororo pointed to the two empty chairs. "What have you found out?"

"Ve found zat Guido vas kicked out his house vhen his parents found out zat he vas a mutant." Kurt explained

"Yes, he was brought up on the street and from an early age and got mixed up with the wrong kind of people. He was even an accomplice for James Madrox."

"The Bank robber?" Ororo asked

"Indeed." Hank replied, "Guido was arrested and sent to the MRD containment facility for being apart of a mob of mutants that attacked innocent people."

"Basically, ve think zat Madrox vas involved vith Guido's rescue." Kurt cut in.

"That would explain why the news reporter thought that more than one mutant was involved. Is it possible that Madrox infiltrated the facility and conducted the rescue by himself."

"It's plausible and would explain a lot, however how Madrox would have found the facility in the first place is a question that needs to be answered."

"What do you mean?"

"Vell, Guido vas caught in Chicago but he vas transported to the San Francisco containment facility. How vould Madrox of known zat?"

"So you're saying he had external help." Ororo said

"He must have had some sort of help if not to assist in the rescue then to have at least point him in the right direction."

"Okay, Kurt find Logan tell him what you have found out and ready the Jet. I want the both of you to go investigate further, start with the MRD facility." Ororo instructed. "Hank I want you to get Emma and ask her to use Cerebro to try and locate Guido, once she does I want the both of you to go find him.

"Right."

As the two stood up Logan burst into the room.

"What is it?" Ororo asked immediately

"You gotta see this."

A few minutes later they were standing in the lounge watching the television, which was on a news channel. Ororo saw live footage of a group of mutants fighting a small army of MRD and four giant robot spiders, no scorpions.

"Oh my stars and garters." Hank gasped.

As they continued to watch the scene unfold they saw a mutant tear an unlucky MRD officer into shreds.

"Sabretooth." Logan sneered.

Next to Sabretooth a very large mutant was attacking all the officers in his way and advancing on the robot scorpions. In a sweep shot of the area the group saw Pyro lying unconscious on the ground.

"John." Bobby, who had already been in the room when they had come, said.

"Is this the Brotherhood?" Ororo asked to no one in particular. Logan answered her, "It has to be."

* * *

><p>The next chapter the X-men join the action. Logan and Kurt go to the MRD facility. Hank, Bobby, Rogue, Colossus and Shadowcat battle the Brotherhood. And Emma assists the Inner Circle in capturing the Pheonix Force. Enjoy the epic next chapter <strong>Fire and War. <strong>Thanx everyone - X-Menwriter17


	10. Chapter 10: Fire and War

This chapter ten of mys story. Sorry it took so long but a lot of things are going on at the same time so I needed to be sure hat wrote enough about each segment of the story. Thank you to my reviewers for supporting me, and I hope you enjoy my story. Please R&R

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><p><em><strong>Chapter 10: Fire &amp; War<strong>_

Ororo's shocked face quickly turned serious. She was the fearless leader of the X-Men and she knew that everyone was looking to her, waiting for her orders. When she had been chosen to be Headmistress of _Xavier's Institute for the Gifted _she had also been voted as the field leader of the X-Men, with the death of Scott and Jean and the only recent return of Hank, Ororo had the most experience and skill to lead the team. Well her and Logan.

Ororo quickly made mental decisions; she had discovered that making decisions without thinking them through could prove dangerous. Before she gave out orders though she asked a question. "If this is the Brotherhood, then where is Magneto?"

"Maybe Magneto isn't a part of this." Hank said. "Just because we assume he has regained his powers doesn't mean that he would go back to his terrorist acts especially after his failure back at Alcatraz."

"You could be right." Ororo said still examining the scene in front of her. The Brotherhood mutants were winning the fight, working together to destroy the robot scorpions that posed more of a threat.

"Besides, Magneto's above making random attacks on the MRD." Bobby said, "He's more mutant domination, right?"

"If this isn't Magneto's doing then who is leading the Brotherhood. And what are they trying to achieve?" Ororo asked. "I doubt Sabretooth or John are the leading type."

"You're right there." Logan said, "Sabretooth would slice first and ask questions later."

"Not really the qualities of a leader." Hank said.

"My guess vould be zat one of the other mutants could be the leader."

"If so, what would be their purpose?" Hank asked

The room went silent at that question, no logical answer coming to mind.

"And look at that." Ororo pointed to a scene where one of the new mutants, a man wearing a brown, leather coat holding a staff and throwing cards that exploded with a purple energy. "These mutants obviously are powerful and no doubt could win this battle, yet they're holding back. For Christ sakes, look at Sabretooth." Footage of Sabretooth attacking one of the scorpions with ease but seemingly fighting rather slower than usual. "Why is he not tearing that thing apart? Instead he's playing with them. They're making the battle last longer, but why?"

"A distraction." Logan said matter-of-factly. "And that'll explain why Magneto's not there."

"That seems the most logical explanation." Hank agreed

"So zat begs the question, vhat do ve do?" Once again all eyes turned to Ororo who, now having a better understanding of the situation, gave her orders.

"Kurt, Logan go suit up then I want you to go to San Francisco and see what you can find out from the MRD facility there. Check their CCTV footage as well. When you find anything contact me."

"Right, I'll go prepare the Jet." Kurt said.

"Actually I want you to utilise the gift that Hank's friend gave us," Ororo stated. "You know the one that rebuilt the Jet, what's his name Hank."

"Forge." Hank replied

"Right, Forge. Anyway, I want you to take the Velocity aircraft. You know how to fly it don't you."

"Ja,"

"Good." Ororo said. "Where's Emma?"

"I think she's in her room." Hank answered.

"Okay, go get her and tell her to meet me at Cerebro. Then go down to the war room and see if you can get any more information on Magneto, or the mutant fugitive, Guido."

"Right." Hank nodded.

Ororo watched Kurt, Logan and Hank leave the room. She turned to Bobby. "Bobby, go round up Kitty, Peter and Rogue and tell them to wait for me in the war room." Bobby nodded his response and left straight away.

* * *

><p>Ororo stood behind Emma as she sat on a metal chair with Cerebro on her head. The room was filled with red lights and as Emma focused the red smoke and lights sharpened and a scene appeared in the mist. Half a dozen mutants were fighting robotic scorpions and white-light MRD officers. "I've found them Ororo." Emma said.<p>

"Good. Can you attack their minds from here?"

"Yes, I'll get right on it." Emma closed her eyes and concentrated, throwing mental bullets into the minds of the mutants her powers amplified by Cerebro. As she unleashed her attack she felt it bounce harmlessly of the edge of their minds. She attacked once more and again her mental bullets did not harm the mutants, and if she needed any more proof she watched the mutants, unharmed continue their attacks. Ororo spotted this and asked, "Is something wrong?"

"An amateur telepath has installed mental blocks in all their minds." Ororo was not shocked by the news, it was something she was expecting, if all these mutants were protected then it proved that Logan's theory was right this _was_ an organised attack most likely a distraction. "Can't you break through them?"

"I can but I'll need to attack each person one at a time. I'm not as skilled in using Cerebro as your professor no doubt was."

"Don't bother." Ororo said. "Instead get the MRD agents to leave the area, and to take their contraptions with them? The X-Men will deal with the Brotherhood."

Ororo left Cerebro the doors sliding open then shut as she walked out.

Downstairs in the lower levels, Ororo walked into the war room, a huge room with computers standing on either side. In the middle of the room was a huge conference table with chairs surrounding it. The table doubled as huge computer screen and small projectors that were used for displaying holographic images were attached to either end of the table. Seated on the chairs were Hank, Rogue, Kitty, Bobby and Peter. Ororo took her seat at the head of the table. "Have Kurt and Logan left yet?"

"Yes," Hank, who was sitting to the right of Ororo, said. "They left just before you entered."

"Okay. Well, Emma said that mental blocks protected the Brotherhoods mind."

"That confirms what we thought."

"Exactly. So I want us to suit up and meet at the jet, I got Emma to clear the area, we'll personally take on the Brotherhood. Go get suited up."

Ororo and Hank stayed seated as the younger X-Men left the War room. "Let's go, Hank." Ororo stood up heading to the door. She turned around and saw that Hank had stood but hadn't moved. "What's the matter?" she asked concern growing on her face.

"Don't take this the wrong way but I think it's best that you sit this one out."

"What do you mean?" Ororo asked her face contorting with an emotion she couldn't quite place, "You know I can take care of myself."

"It isn't that." Hank said, "It's just you've been showing symptoms of high stress levels and I doubt that this fight we'll help you lower them down. Besides when Logan and Kurt report their findings someone needs to be here to listen to them."

"Hank," Ororo said resigned, she knew she wasn't going to win this fight. "Take care of them."

"I will."

As the two headed for the door Jubilee stumbled in. "That reminds me," Hank said, "Jubilee here wants to know if you'll allow her to take part in the coming battle." Ororo considered this, Jubilee scored high levels in her individual training sessions and survival skills exercises but she was always the first eliminated in the team Danger Room sessions. "I don't know, Jubilee."

"Please Storm," Jubilee pleaded, "I'll be extra careful and stay by Mr McCoy's side. Pleeaaassee!"

"Fine, but you better take orders."

Outside the X-Jet Ororo stood in front of the X-Men all wearing their battle suits. "I want you to stay focused and listen to Hank he's the team leader."

"Yes Storm." Chorused the team.

As Ororo was about to leave Warren run in, "Wait for me!" he yelled.

"Warren?" Ororo began

"I was in my room getting some rest watching T.V.," he explained. "I want to help. I know that those robots monstrosities are the work that my father was funding."

"They're gone. I told Emma to clear the area." Ororo said

"Even so, I want to help. I live in the X-Mansion but I don't get to be one of the X-Men, that's hardly fair."

"Fine, Warren." Hank said, "There is no point turning you away since you're already wearing your suit. Come on." Warren smiled and walked closer to the Jet and the X-Men.

"Stay safe." Ororo whispered before leaving the room as the X-Men boarded the Jet.

The X-Jet hovered out of the basketball court, which had slid open as it ascended into the sky the court below it slid shut. When the Jet gained altitude Beast pressed on a switch and thrusters at the back of the Jet slid out. The boosters made a high-pitched sound and the Jet quickly gained lateral speed.

* * *

><p>Logan and Kurt sat in the XM Velocity Mark III. A bla<p>

The cockpit seated only two people. Kurt was at the controls travelling at eighty knots (92.2 mph), they both were in a hurry to reach their destination although for two different reasons.

"We there yet?" Wolverine asked.

"Estimated time of arrival thirty seconds." Nightcrawler replied, "Now I just have to find somewhere to land."

"How about those woods over there?"

"Alright, I'm taking her down now." Kurt pulled down against a lever and gripping the steers pulled upwards. The jet slowed down immediately and hovered in an empty space in the woods. Slowly the jet descended and then landed gently and skilfully. Nightcrawler pressed a button and the glass shield over the cockpit lifted up. Both Nightcrawler and Wolverine both jumped out and the cockpit closed behind them.

"Right, so ve go in and kindly ask zem to let us look at their footage of the breakout." Nightcrawler said.

"And when that fails," Wolverine extended his claws, "Then we break in slashing anything that gets in my way."

"Charming." Nightcrawler said before leading the way to the MRD facility. "And retract those claws." Wolverine did so.

Since they had landed on the other side of the base they had to walk around to the front of the facility. Wolverine had originally wanted to cut a way in but Nightcrawler had insisted they not do anything to antagonise the people inside. Finally reaching the front Nightcrawler calmly pressed the intercom button and waited for a response. A minute later the intercom speakers crackled with activity and very angry voice said, "What do you want?"

"Hello, my name is Kurt Wagener and my friend here is Logan." Nightcrawler said into the intercom. "We are with the X-Men and we would like to speak with the person in charge of this facility."

"X-Men, huh?" the voice said and then, after what seemed like hours but could only have been a few minutes, the gates buzzed open. The searchlights focused on Wolverine and Nightcrawler and wall of MRD officers holding guns stood in front of them.

"Talk about a warm welcome." Logan quipped.

In the middle of the wall of guards stood a man wearing a different uniform to the guards and not holding a gun, however Wolverine spotted two handguns in their holsters at his waist. He also had a taser and a radio. The man had a distinguishing scar under his left eye. "I'm sorry to welcome the X-Men like this, but you can never be too careful." The man said, "I wanted to make sure that you truly were the heroes of Alcatraz."

"And?" Wolverine said

"It seems you are." The Colonel smiled. "I'm Colonel Moss." Logan sniffed and gave a cold hard stare at the colonel when he offered his hand to shake. Kurt quickly took it apologising, "Pardon my friend he just didn't have a good experience the last time he met a Colonel."

"No worries." The colonel smiled however this time it didn't reach his eyes. "Is there a reason behind your visit or do you just randomly go to MRD facilities as some sort of hobby?"

"Actually if it is possible ve vould like to have a look at your CCTV footage of the break in a couple days ago."

"I wouldn't usually condone this, but since you're one of the X-Men." Colonel Moss said, "Follow me."

* * *

><p>Ororo stood behind Emma once more as she used Cerebro. Emma had offered to try and track the telepathic mutant that had shielded the mind of the Brotherhood by scanning the mind of one of the mutants and using the telepathic 'scent' she got from them she was trying to trace the telepath. Emma had warned Ororo that it would take a long time for her to get a lock on the telepath but regardless Ororo was determined to wait, after a while she grew restless. "You know, you can go to your office or your room. I'll call you when I find something."<p>

"Okay," Ororo said and she walked out leaving Emma to her task.

When Emma heard the doors slide shut she directed her attention away from tracing the telepath and instead focused on London. In actual fact Emma could have traced the telepath in a few minutes if she searched hard enough but she feared that once she completed that task she wouldn't be able to use Cerebro again and it was imperative that she contacted Sebastian Shaw.

As she focused the most of the red lights faded until there was only one left, she zoomed in on it and she saw him, charming as ever sitting in a private jet on their way to London. Sebastian Shaw wore a black tailored suit worth hundreds if not thousands of pounds, and a black tie on his neck. Shaw had black hair tied into a ponytail and he gazed indifferently into the skies out of his window. With him in the Jet were two men wearing suits hand tailored as well, however they wore grey and brown coloured suits rather than black, a woman with long black hair sat opposite them, she wore a black pearl necklace round her neck and long black dress the same colour as her lips. This woman was most probably the world's sexiest Goth and one of the few people that Emma Frost feared. Behind the woman were five identical girls in their late teens, early twenties. They had blond hair and icy blue eyes. The Cuckoos.

-_**Sebastian, you need to hurry the woman is losing control of her conscious. If you don't reach there in time you will have to fight the Phoenix Force.**_

-_**No need for you to bother yourself you have done your job and led us to her. Now let us deal with the Phoenix our way. If we need your assistance we will ask you.**_

_**-I hope you and Selene succeed in your mission.**_

_**-It isn't just her and I; Harry and Donald are with us as well as the cuckoos.**_

_**-Just make sure you stop the Phoenix.**_

_**-As you wish Emma.**_

Emma ended her connection to Sebastian and refocused her mind on tracing the Brotherhood's telepath.

* * *

><p>Hank landed the X-Jet on the roof of a building and urged the team out. "Right, X-Men we go and stop the Brotherhood." Not a long speech, it wasn't needed in these situations. Shadowcat and Jubilee jumped down from the roof holding hands, they went through the ground and rose up again. Colossus jumped down after encasing himself in metal and the impact of landing on the ground had little affect on him. Angel flew down holding Rogue and he let her go when her feet were only a few feet in the air. Iceman and Beast were the last to descend, the former creating an Ice-slide and the latter using his agility jump down.<p>

The Brotherhood watched as the X-Men made their entrance. Pyro, who had finally recovered while the MRD were fleeing, stood near the back his eyes scanning the X-Men until it landed on Iceman, he sneered. The Brotherhood formed a line as they readied themselves for battle. Pyro sparked a flame and threw a fire raptor directly at Iceman.

* * *

><p>Magneto stood between Juggernaut and Mastermind. They were in a jewellery store not far away from where the rest of the Brotherhood were fighting. It was because of this that he had needed the Brotherhood's distraction of the MRD that way they would not disturb his plans.<p>

The store wasn't a big one, which was surprising given the value of one of the jewels it contained. _Then again, _Magneto thought, _they have no idea._ Magneto was correct the owners of the store didn't know the power of the crystal. The crystal itself was situated in the middle of the store in a glass case. The crimson gem glowed faintly as Magneto, Mastermind and Juggernaut advanced. Juggernaut threw out his fists and shattered the glass casing.

"The M'Kraan Crystal." Magneto whispered, "Let's test it shall we." He turned to Juggernaut. Obligingly Juggernaut lifted the crystal with his bare hands and waited as it started to glow more vibrantly, the crystal also started to heat up until it was burning the palm of Juggernaut. He screamed and tried to drop it but the crystal glowed more powerfully and enveloped him in an equilibrium of colour.

Soon Juggernaut's screams were the only thing that suggested that he was still in the room. Later, as the brilliance died down, Magneto saw the new and improved Juggernaut. A larger, more muscular Juggernaut stood holding the crystal. His veins were bulging and his arms alone were almost the size of Magneto. Juggernauts helmet cracked open, as his head grew bigger than it.

"Unbelievable." Magneto gasped then smiled. "The M'Kraan Crystal exists and it shall aid me in my journey to success." Magneto walked closer to Juggernaut and said, "Give me the crystal." Juggernaut did so and pressed the crystal into Magneto's hands. The crystal shone.

* * *

><p>Sebastian Shaw a man of average height and above average expectations with his tailored raven coloured suit and his long black hair tied into a ponytail. Sebastian wore an expression of calm indifference, but anyone that knew him knew that you could never tell that he was thinking just by looking at him. Sebastian Shaw had a habit of completing every project he started. He had never failed in a project and did not intend to<p>

so when he, Donald Pierce, Harold Leland, Selene and the Stepford Cuckoos exited their private jet and made their way to the address given to them by Emma on their quest to find the Phoenix force, he considered it as another project.

It started off well; they walked down the empty London streets till they reached the address Emma gave them. The five cuckoos stood to the rear as Sebastian and Selene led the advancement. Without bothering to knock on the door Selene lifted her hands and a wisp of black mist blasted the door open. Selene stepped over the debris she created. Sitting in the corner of the room a woman with long black hair. Her face was matted with dirt and dry tears and black scorch marks were found on the walls and floor. Pieces of wood and shards of glass were among the debris that surrounded litteres the room. As Selene, Sebastian and the rest of the Hellfire Club drew closer to her the smell of burning filled their nostrils.

The woman looked up her eyes vacant as she stared at the intruders, the unwanted visitors that disturbed her peace and serenity. An inner voice not belonging to her spoke out, **"Leave!"** her voice was full of rage and anger but this had no affect, at least no noticeable affect on the Hellfire club. "We're here to help you." Selene said her voice calm, soothing. "We know what you're going through and we want to help you." The woman's eyes gained focus and her pale face darkened, black veins squirming like worms under her skin. Her pupils dilated filling her whole eye. Slowly the woman stood up. Once her feet stood firmly on the ground she looked up at the Hellfire Club and levitated into the air, her hair already standing on end. The woman's black pupils gained fire and the air in the room grew warm. **"Leave!"** she said before simultaneously raising her hands and screeching like a hawk. Fire engulfed her. Fire completed her. Fire became her.

* * *

><p>Wolverine and Nightcrawler thanked the Colonel and headed back to where they had left the XM Velocity. Once inside the Velocity they used the communicator in the jet to contact the mansion.<p>

"Hello," the crackle of the receiver containing Storm's voice said, "What have you found out?"

"Turns out we were right." Wolverine answered, "Madrox was helped, and the helper was Mystique."

"Mystique?"

"Ja." Nightcrawler said, "She helped him sneak in, she vas caught on camera."

"Right, I'll have Emma work on finding her. Get into the air and wait for co-ordinates."

Emma had no trouble finding Mystique with her was James Madrox and Guido Carosella. "They're in the east." She notified Ororo. "I'll get back to you when I figure the exact co-ordinates."

"Okay," Ororo replied.

* * *

><p>Spinning in the air and then landed on the huge mutant with the blond hair, Beast rebounded harmlessly off his protruding stomach. The large mutant retaliated with a punch that connected to Beast's chest the strength of the impact sending him through the air once again.<p>

A burst of electricity hit the large mutant. It stung but had no other affect much to Jubilee's dismay. She ran right at the mutant attacking with calm, calculated blasts. She increased the intensity of her strikes as she advanced. Angered, the large mutant slammed his fists onto the floor the vibrations caused Jubilee to lose her footing. The large man grinned as he strode closer to his victim. His fists raised up he swung them down in an arc directly at Jubilee.

A few minutes before Colossus in his metal glory was absorbing the strikes of Sabretooth as he scratched and clawed him in a ferocious frenzy. Colossus, biding his time, allowed Sabretooth to attack him and occasionally retaliated with lazy strikes nothing big, he wanted Sabretooth to underestimate him and thus lower his guard, one small falter one mistake was enough for him.

From the corner of his eye he saw Jubilee advancing on an outsized mutant. An explosion of colourful energy later and Jubilee lay on the ground her opponent about to deliver a fatal blow. Without thinking Colossus swung out aimlessly at Sabretooth, he jumped backwards dodging the attack but oblivious to Colossus' faster second assault at his legs. Sabretooth buckled backwards and immediately Colossus hefted him up and threw him at the large mutant, the  
>strength of the throw and the latitude it gained pushed the large mutant of his feet and effectively away from Jubilee. Colossus ran over to her and helped her up, "You okay?"<p>

"Yeah," Jubilee winced still winded from the fall. "I'm fine, come on we have people to fight."

Iceman and Pyro faced off in battle of fire and ice. Surrounding Pyro were five fire raptors burning in the air. Pyro's eyes glowed with a renewed want for revenge. _Who says its best-served cold, _Pyro thought, _Bobby prepare for burning hot vengeance! _He raised his hands toward where Iceman stood and all five fire raptors attacked him. Iceman created an Ice shield to protect himself. The ice shield melted against the heat of the raptors and Iceman constantly froze a layer of Ice in front of him.

* * *

><p>The fire that now heated the air around the Hellfire club intensified as the rage, within the Phoenix Force, unleashed. Like a huge firebird the woman hovered in the air consumed by fire. Selene in her black formal dress and matching colour boots stared emotionless at the spectacle, being the first to get over the initial shock and awe she now stood waiting. As she turned to examine the expressions of her comrades she found only the cuckoos had the same expression of indifference as herself, the rest of the club, however stood in shock gawping at the Phoenix. <em>Men, <em>she thought, _you can't get anywhere with them. _Working on her own orders Selene let out black bolt of mystic energy at the Phoenix, it did nothing but gain its attention. "Cuckoos," she turned to face them, "I want you to create a constant psychic attack on the phoenix."

"Yes Selene." They said in unison. Selene resumed her efforts of gaining the attention of the Phoenix, she unleashed strong attacks one that slammed the Phoenix into a wall. The phoenix replied in kind with a seemingly never-ending jet of psychic fire. Selene shielded herself, her eyes now black. Her form surrounding by shadows of the magic energy she possessed.

During one of the Phoenix attacks the psychic blasts from the Stepford Cuckoos finally kicked in and she fell to the ground the fire around her dissipating. "Put mental blocks around her mind." Selene instructed, "Keep the Phoenix at bay until the appointed time." The cuckoos did as ordered.

"Well done Selene." Sebastian commended. "You succeeded in capturing the Phoenix Force."

Selene responded with silence walking out the door followed by the levitating figure of the woman with raven coloured hair.

* * *

><p>"Right Storm we're on it." Logan replied. "You heard the co-ordinates," he said to Kurt, "Let's get going."<p>

* * *

><p>Rogue was engaged in battle with a very cute mutant. He had coffee coloured hair that covered his forehead and his demonic red on black eyes was dazzling. The man held a metal staff in his right hand and a single card in his left. After giving a hearty grin to her he threw the now glowing card at her and ran away. Rogue looked on in shock and disappointment. The glowing card landed by her feet and she looked curiously at it, it was the Queen of Hearts as she was about to pick it up the card exploded and the conflicting forces threw her backwards. Slamming into a burned out car a few metres away, Rogue cried in pain. Soon it subsided and she got up. No time to waste during a fight. She looked over at Bobby he was attacking Pyro with Ice daggers she turned her head and a few metres off, Kitty was fighting a black, slender woman with swords in place of her hand. Rogue's anger rose as she turned back to Bobby then to Kitty again. They were supposed to be her friend and boyfriend yet they betrayed her by participating in a scandalous act. Rogue knew she shouldn't be thinking about this, regardless her mind turned back to a time about three weeks ago. Rogue knew that Bobby and Kitty had drawn closer since their fight at Alcatraz but she didn't know the extent of that closeness until she caught them kissing in the middle of the night.<p>

Rogue was taking a walk in the garden of the mansion, something she always did when she couldn't sleep. As she finished her walk she entered the mansion and walked into the kitchen she pored herself a glass of water and stood thinking about the roller coaster her life had turned out to be. She started to hear hushed voices coming from the lounge, she left to investigate and saw Kitty and Bobby in a passionate embrace they drew out of their embrace to look at each other longingly then they kissed a fierce, strong kind of one holding on to each other as if if one of them let go the other would disappear for ever. Rogues heart shattered as she saw this the already cracked vessel fragmented when she realised she was losing her boyfriend. Rogue started to draw away, putting more hours into the danger room and training as a whole, never letting on that she knew something was going on. At this moment Rogue guiltily hoped that Pyro would win the fight. Underterred Rogue ran at a silver suited mutant slamming his fists onto the ground.

From above Angel swooped down avoiding the attacks of a blonde girl throwing balls of energy. Angel darted down his wings close together, then he spread them out at the last minute ascending and swinging his feet up at the same time, he was rewarded with the cracking sound of his feet connecting with the mutant's face.

* * *

><p>Hope you enjoyed this chapter, I did it is my favourite and my longest yet. Can't wait for the next chapter? neither can I. Mystque forms a team strong enough to rival Magneto's Brotherhood and Storm's X-Men. Mystique and her team take on Logan and Kurt who are aided by Storm and Emma. Also the Hellfire club runs into truble controlling the phoenix Force. Come back here for my next chapter, <em><strong>The Acolytes! <strong>_X-Men Writer17.


	11. Chapter 11: The Acolytes!

_**Chapter 11: The Acolytes!**_

Mystique stood outside the door to Pietro Maximoff's house, standing on either side of her were James Madrox and Guido Carosella. Mystique wearing her white body suit and long skirt slit to the waist on each side a skull belt hung around her waist and knee high boots. She was in her human form with black hair tied into a ponytail. She rang the bell and waited patiently, she didn't have to wait long as a man with silver hair gelled up so that it was standing on end opened the door. "Can I help you?" the man asked testily.

"Yes you may." Mystique pushed past the silver haired man into the house followed by Madrox and Guido. "Pietro Maximoff, I believe." Mystique held out a hand, which the silver haired man took nervously. "This is James Madrox better known as Multiple Man and this is Guido Carosella also called Strong guy." Mystique said looking to James then to Guido.

"Strong Guy? You're the mutant that broke out of the MRD cells." the silver-haired man asked.

"That's correct." Mystique said.

"Who are you?" Pietro asked.

"I am Mystique." Mystique shifted into her blue form, her blue scales suddenly appearing and overlapping her skin, the shift ended with her eyes turning from brown to yellow completely. "I used to work with your father."

"My father?"

"Erik Lensherr, known as Magneto to the government and responsible for the huge fight at Alcatraz a couple months ago. I was his right hand gal, before he cast me off. They same way he did to you and your sister I believe."

Pietro bristled, "What do you want?" he asked.

"I want to strike a bargain with you. You and I owe your father vengeance, he gave you and your sister up to pursue his sinister ideas. Now we will pay him back for spiting us."

"What do you want?" Pietro repeated.

"I want you and your sister to join my team."

"What makes you think I'll join you just like that?"

"Because I know how many wasted years you spent trying to please your father, following his orders and always responding to his beck and call. When he left you and your sister to your own devices cutting you off from his life, I know you swore an oath to get him back. Well I can tell you that I know where Magneto is and I know how we can get back at him. What do you say to that?"

Pietro looked at Mystique intently taking in the aura about her and then replied, "I say sign me up."

Mystique smiled, "Welcome to the Acolytes."

* * *

><p>After landing the XM Velocity a long way off, Kurt and Logan had to make their way through the woods and back onto the streets. After a half hour of trekking, Nightcrawler and Wolverine entered onto the street that the co-ordinates had led them to. "We're here." Nightcrawler stated. Logan sniffed the air and a familiar scent crept up his nose. "Mystique." After extending his claws Logan stalked down the street followed closely by Nightcrawler.<p>

Mystique, sitting on the couch inside Pietro's living room, asked. "We need to find your sister and ask her to join us. Do you know where she is?"

"Yeah," Pietro stood erect he shouted, "Wanda!" in moments a slender figure descended down the staircase and through the open door way into the living room she had long auburn hair.

"I heard what you were talking about, and I want to join." she said.

"I am extremely pleased to have you two part of my Acolytes, but you need to accept me as your leader and to accept these two as your partners." Mystique nodded to Madrox and Carosella.

"We accept your terms." Wanda replied.

"Good, now I need to know what you can do. The documents that I read about you didn't outline exactly what you're mutant powers were." Pietro nodded and then ran up the stairs and down them in seconds. "The last time I met somebody with the same powers as you they tried to take my place. I hope you won't be similarly inclined." Mystique turned to Wanda. "What can you do?"

"My power has endless results. I warp reality." Mystique sat up interested in what she heard. "Demonstrate."

Wanda focused on the armchair Mystique sat on and raised an arm a red bolt strikes it and the chair suddenly lurched upwards carrying Mystique with it. "And I can do more."

Once the chair was safely on the floor Mystique stood and faced her team. "Now we are a team, we strike against Magneto." After saying this the door was broken open and Wolverine and Nightcrawler stood in the doorway.

"Looks like we've crashed in on a party, and we weren't invited." Wolverine turned to Nightcrawler, "How 'bout that?"

"Wolverine," Mystique shouted. "Acolytes, they are enemies stop them." The Acolytes stood ready and strong, "It's five against two, X-Men." Madrox said.

"Doesn't seem fair does it?" Wolverine lunged at Madrox, taking him out, with a hard fist to the side of his head.

Nightcrawler bamfed behind Mystique attacking with his legs, he teleported again in front of her kicking at her again, this time driving it into her stomach.

Pietro zoomed into Nightcrawler pulling him away from Mystique then started a bout of lightning fast attacks. Wolverine, engaged in a fight with Guido, was slammed into the wall. He was then propelled through the window by a hex bolt from Wanda. Outside Wolverine did something he had never done before he called for help. "Storm, we're outnumbered. We need help. I can take it but Kurt won't last long."

"Right, Emma and I are on our way." she replied.

* * *

><p>Inside their Sanctuary Sebastian and the rest of the Inner Circle stood before an alter like table where the host of the Phoenix Force lay unconscious. The five cuckoos stood to one side behind Sebastian waiting to be called.<p>

"How long will she stay like this?" Shaw asked

"The cuckoos are keeping her that way," Selene replied, "but they tell me she's struggling against their blocks we'll need Emma to keep her like that, if not she could break free at any moment with the Phoenix Force still within her."

"Then get the cuckoos to get a message to Emma telling her to return," Shaw ordered, "She is no longer needed with the X-Men."

* * *

><p>Storm, wearing her black leather suit and silver cape, and Emma wearing a tight white cat suit sat in a helicopter in the air on their way to the aid of Wolverine and Nightcrawler. "Okay we're fast approaching our target." Storm turned on her communicator, "Logan we've arrived hold them off for a few more minutes."<p>

Nightcrawler crawled up in a corner as the sinister silver haired speedster, ironically, slowly advanced on him. "Aren't you an ugly wreck." he taunted. Kurt struggling to move groaned in pain. "I hate fighting." he cursed. The silver haired mutant continued his advance.

Wolverine badly bruised and rapidly healing attacked Guido as he lunged his claws extended, the brown haired witch through another bolt of red energy the carpet seemed to gain life of it's own and tore away from the floor and wrapped around Logan who slashed in vain. _Where are you Storm? _He thought. As if on cue a bolt of lightning tore through the roof and into the living room a large hole opened and down came the white haired mutant leader of the X-Men. Emma Frost entered into the fray from the doorway stepping over the broken door.

Storm spotted a silver haired mutant attacking Nightcrawler with lightning fast attacks. Without a moment to spare she summoned the winds a mini tornado spun around the silver haired mutant he screamed when his feet no longer touched the floor. With a gesture of her hands Storm escorted the mutant out the way she came in. The spiralling, strong winds threw him out through the hole in the roof, the sound of his screams getting lower and lower.

Emma ran to where Nightcrawler lay half unconscious mumbling incoherently. "It's okay she said," she said, "_**Go to sleep." **_Emma watched as Kurt closed his eyes his mumbling stopped and his pain forgotten for the moment. She watched as Storm and Logan made their way towards them. "We need to go." Storm said, "Logan tells me that there's a mutant that has a lot of power we can't stick around." Emma turned to see that the attention of the other mutants were on helping Mystique and the other fallen mutants up. "Yes you better run," Mystique said, "I'm back and me and my Acolytes will be taking over. You hear that weather witch you and Magneto better watch out."

"Mystique if you think you can take my entire team of X-Men down with this circus group you call a team then you better think again." Storm snapped. Her eyes turning white.

"Kill them!" Mystique ordered, "I want their heads on a stick!" As Guido, Wanda and Madrox advanced white thick fog engulfed the room, nobody could see anything, nobody except Storm. Her anger getting the better of her she threw a bolt of lightning hitting Mystique square in the chest. "Gather a better team and defeat my X-Men in a fair fight then you'll have a foot to stand on." she said before helping Logan and Emma carry Kurt out.

* * *

><p>They had been fighting for close to an hour and yet the Brotherhood weren't backing down this was the first fight they had with them that was lasting so long. Hank knew they were waiting for something and he intended to find out.<p>

Shadowcat phased yet again as the woman with swords for hands lunged at her. _When would she give up? _she thought the mutant ran at her again and Shadowcat phased into the ground. She came out again behind the mutant that was still staring at the ground kicked her neck, Shadowcat watched as she fell to the ground. _What a waste of time? _She scoured the makeshift battleground looking for another enemy. She spied a good looking man in a brown leather jacket brandishing a metal staff which he wielded with deadly efficiency. She watched the mutant swing and stab at Beast who ran up against him. He dodged most of his attacks but he failed to spot a glowing card that was throw at him. The card exploded and Beast was hurtled through the air.

She ran at the mutant with seemingly inhuman speed her screaming drawing the attention of the mutant. He turns and Kitty sees his eyes for the first time. That alone is able to stop her dead in her tracks. His eyes were a devilish red on black. Kitty quickly got over her irrational fear and ran towards Beast. The mutant swung his staff at her and was shocked when he watched it pass through her.

Gambit watched the mysterious mutant unaffected by his staff swing. He grabbed a card ready to charge it with kinetic energy when the voice came in his head.

"_End the fight and return the second stage is about to begin."_ the voice belonged to Mastermind. Gambit returned the card and ran off leaving the girl to tend her fallen companion.

All but one member of the brotherhood ran for the plane. Pyro on the other hand continued his fight against the Ice Man. He created fire raptors which flew at Bobby from different directions. Fully encased in Ice, Bobby deflects the raptors and throws giant ice daggers at the pyromaniac.

"We need to go!" Boom Boom shouted at him, "Pyro we've got to move."

"No," he shouts back creating a stream of fire at Bobby, "I'm staying. Little Bobby here has a lesson to learn."

"Pyro," Avalanche, screamed, "Get in the plane or we leave you." Pyro understood the double meaning, if they left he was out, which meant no chance to lead Magneto's army he had to give up. "Next time, Ice_Man_." Pyro ran for the Plane leaving a wall of fire in his wake.

"This makes no sense!" Hank said to the team. "This fight was completely unprovoked and ended quite hastily. I do not understand what's going on, what is the Brotherhood up to." He got no reply. Storm would not be happy.


End file.
